Customer Reviews

The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon

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I have actually never read David Almond before and the title of this book grabbed me and gave me my chance to finally read him.

A whimsical story full of the unbelievable where a lonely boy who lives in a basement apartment, is rather shy, and does not like school but then school does not like him either takes a day off learns about living life to the fullest through a set of quirky characters and fantastical events.

One must set reality aside for this story. The people and events that Paul meets up with are beyond belief. The book is a joy to read; told with such whimsy it is a very endearing story. Paul is encouraged to say what he's always wanted to say and out he spurts that the moon is really just a whole in the sky. He manages to climb into the moon where he finds all sorts of people and things that have flown into it over the ages: hot air balloons, planes, helicopters and their pilots, people with wings who tried to fly and even a girl who was a human cannonball. With the encouragement of the denizens of the apartment building he makes friends, realizes everyone agrees that sausages are better than war, watches others plan a Great Expedition, and sees how the others live their lives, however obscure, to the best they can.

If you can't leave reality outside the door this won't be the book for you but if you can you will be in for a delightful story which is profusely illustrated with drawings as whimsical as the story. The characters are a motley crew from a man who switches to speaking in only vowels when he's in a conversational mood, to a dog who believes that when he obtains the age of seven he will grow wings and the ability to speak, to a little girl who lives inside the moon because she ended up there one night whilst performing her job as Fortuna the Human Cannonball. I found as I read and looked at the pictures that I kept thinking the style of the story was so much like William Pene duBois, a classic children's author/illustrator. I can also see this making a very good read aloud. The story is quirky, unconventional and humorous.

I loved this book. I loved the feel of the pages, the illustrations, the story. Although it's quite short, it packs in a great deal and it's strange in a Roald Dahl-y way.

Thoroughly recommended!

Award-winning children's author David Almond and illustrator Polly Dunbar seem to have hit upon a partnership that works. The two first collaborated on 2008's MY DAD'S A BIRDMAN, a thoughtful story that recast some of Almond's most persistent themes for younger readers, lovingly enlivened by Dunbar's mixed-media illustrations. Now, with THE BOY WHO CLIMBED INTO THE MOON, Almond and Dunbar join forces once again, proving that when two talented artists find a winning partnership, the whole can most definitely exceed the sum of its remarkable parts.

Paul is a lonely boy in the north of England. He and his parents live in the basement of a 29-story apartment building, about as far from the sky as you can possibly get. So when Paul skips school one day, he decides to climb to the very top of his apartment building, to get a little closer to the sky. Little does he know, though, that this seemingly simple notion will result in the adventure of his life.

As he ascends his apartment building, Paul comes to know his eccentric and unusual neighbors, especially Molly (or is her name Mabel?), a vivacious woman who whisks Paul and his parents off on a journey, inspired by Paul's desire to touch the sky and see if his notion that the moon is merely a hole in the sky might actually be true after all.

Along the way, they meet Molly's brother Benjamin, who wears a bag on his head and has had trouble speaking since he returned from war ("The last one...You know, that noisy one with all the bullets and bombs and explosions. The War of the Thingummyjig or the Whatdyacallitor the Great Big Ginormous War Number 9. Maybe you missed it."). But even Benjamin is drawn into the excitement of Paul's quest.

Although parts of THE BOY WHO CLIMBED INTO THE MOON, particularly Benjamin's story, are almost achingly sad, Dunbar's brilliantly colored illustrations (created in pencil, watercolor and collage) perfectly convey the joy that walks hand-in-hand with the sadness. Glorious artwork brings Paul's journey --- and what he finds on the other side of the moon --- right into the pages of the book, several of which are given over entirely to marvelous, candy-colored, joyful two-page spreads.

David Almond's novels for older readers are known for their fanciful poignancy, for their mixture of beauty and sadness in equal measure. THE BOY WHO CLIMBED INTO THE MOON is likewise a bittersweet novel. Characters' experience of loss, longing and persistent sadness are countered by a truly extraordinary journey and, more importantly, by the gradual formation of a community that helps make Paul's journey possible and provides a safe, comforting place to belong upon his return.

The characters are always talking about sausages, as if everything good in life revolved around eating sausages. Sausage production, for example, is seen as the solution to war. But sausages are not healthy for kids or adults and to make them you have to kill animals.